MEPs urged to reject fishing deal with Morocco

The European Parliament is under strong pressure to overrule a vote by its fisheries committee and reject a new European Union fishing deal with Morocco on Tuesday (10 December). Calls for a “No” vote are coming not only from residents of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, but also from campaigners for human rights and the environment.

The fisheries committee gave its backing last week (27 November) to a deal that the European Commission struck in July – the replacement for a previous protocol that the European Parliament rejected in 2011 over concerns about its inclusion of the waters off Western Sahara and risks of overfishing.

Maria Damanaki, European commissioner for fisheries, said although the new deal would still include Western Sahara waters, it would be fair to the local populations because it stipulates that the EU money should benefit local communities. The agreement would allow around 120 EU vessels access to Moroccan waters, while the EU would give Morocco €30 million and European ship-owners €10 million per year.

The Saharawi Natural Resources Watch, a group representing natives of Western Sahara, sent a letter to MEPs last week urging them to reject the deal. “This agreement is, if voted, a blatant violation of the most fundamental rights of the Saharawi people, as a nation under occupation.” Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 after Spain withdrew from its former colony. No countries have recognised the territory as belonging to Morocco.

Green MEPs have also criticised gaps in the deal. They point to the absence of any human rights clause, and its failure to envisage any earmarking of EU funds for solving ecological damage or depletion of fish stocks.

Spanish MEP Raül Romeva said a vote to approve the new agreement would be “the most shameful episode in the EU’s neo-colonial fisheries policy.”

France defends Morocco’s position, and French centre-left MEP Gilles Pargneaux, who heads the ‘Friends of Morocco’ European Parliament group, is calling on MEPs to support the new deal. “The legal department of the European Parliament affirmed recently that Morocco and the EU abide by international law when they fish in Western Sahara,” he said. “Being opposed to [the deal] in order to defend the Sahrawi people will end up weakening their social and economic situation since they won’t be able to benefit from the protocol at all.”

Overfishing concerns

Pargneaux also dismissed concerns about overfishing, saying the issue is well addressed in the new deal. The Western Sahara waters are already being heavily fished by Russian vessels after the two countries entered into an agreement last year that allows for 200,000 tonnes per year.

On Monday (2 December) Greenpeace released a report concluding that trawlers from Sweden, Ireland, Denmark and the UK are already fishing in Western Sahara by reflagging themselves as Moroccan or Belizean ships, even though they retain a European crew.

Member states are expected to approve the deal, with France, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal all strongly supporting it.

MEPs will also vote on Tuesday on a proposal to restrict deep-sea fishing in the Atlantic. They are expected to make the rules less restrictive than the Commission proposed.